Micro-RNA detection based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer of DNA-carbon quantum dots probes.

Carbon quantum dots have been proposed as an effective platform for miRNA detection. Carbon dots were synthesized by citric acid. The synthesized dots were characterized by dynamic light scattering, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, spectrofluorimetry, transmission electron microscopy and FT-IR spectrophotometry. The fluorescence quantum yield of the synthesized dots was determined using quinine sulfate as the standard. The FAM-labeled single stranded DNA, as sensing element, was adsorbed on dots by π-π interaction. The quenching of the dots fluorescence due to fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) was used for mir 9-1 detection. In the presence of the complementary miRNA, the FRET did not take place and the fluorescence was recovered.